Banana Republicans is the latest book by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber of the Center for Media and Democracy.The bestselling authors of Weapons of Mass Deception lay bare how the "right-wing conspiracy," as represented by the national GOP and its functionaries in the media,lobbying establishment and electoral system,is undermining dissent and squelching pluralistic politics in America.

For the first time since 1932,the Republican Party controls every major institution of the federal government: the White House,the Supreme Court,the Senate and the House of Representatives-not to mention the "fourth branch of government," the mass media.How did this come to pass? Banana Republicans reveals how the GOP leadership maintains its hold on power through the systemic manipulation of the electoral system,the media,the lobbying establishment,and the political culture at large.

The Republicans control the Supreme Court,the Senate,Congress and the White House.They dominate the mass media and they are busy undermining independent sources of authority in science and academia.Increasingly they define politics at home and abroad as war.And they will use all means necessary to secure victory in the 2oo4 election.After all if liberals are traitors they can hardly expect any mercy.

Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber are two of the most important analysts of the propaganda used by the rich and the powerful to control the public.Here they show how the methods developed by the Republican right over the last thirty years now threaten the survival of meaningful democracy in the most powerful nation on earth.The campaign for Bush's second term is the latest-perhaps even the last-instalment of a campaign to obliterate opposition to the right's agenda.It is a campaign that began in obscure think tanks and lobby groups in the 1970s and has grown in power ever since.

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The War at Home

1.The Marketplace of Ideas

2.The Echo Chamber

3.The One-Party State

4.Pumping Irony

5.Block the Vote

6.Traitor Baiters

Conclusion: The Three-Banana Problem

Notes

Index

About the Authors